Fuchsia Groan
Encyclopedia
Fuchsia Groan is a fictional character
: The daughter of Sepulchrave
, 76th Earl of Groan, in Mervyn Peake
's novels Titus Groan
(1946) and Gormenghast
(1950). In the BBC
film adaptation (2000), Fuchsia is portrayed by Scottish
actress Neve McIntosh
.
Fuchsia is also the subject of The Cure
song, The Drowning Man, which is about her death and mentions her by name.
are entail
ed, only sons can inherit. Consequently, Fuchsia has been largely ignored by both parents; and she spends most of her time with Nanny Slagg. While Fuchsia cares for Nanny Slagg deeply, she also delights in tormenting the old woman with childish antics and pranks. When Fuchsia is about fifteen, an heir-apparent is finally born. Like many firstborns, Fuchsia is angry that her parents are having another baby and determines to hate her brother or sister. After his naming ceremony, Fuchsia expresses delight that Titus was dropped on his head. Over time, however, the two grow very close. When Titus is twelve, he is imprisoned by his mother and his schoolmaster for repeated questioning and disobedience; and Fuchsia is the only one to visit or talk to him.
Fuchsia is a dreamer and a romantic
, who escapes the dull pace of life in Gormenghast by reading fantasy tales. She frequently disappears into her secret attic rooms to fantasize and sulk. She scrawls on walls with charcoal and makes such wild claims as, "When I am Queen, I am going to burn down the castle
!", which upsets the aged Nanny Slagg. Lady Fuchsia Groan will never become Queen; but her fantasies of romance and adventure seem to keep her forever young. She responds to everything with childlike enthusiasm; and, beneath her callous and bratty exterior, she is sweet and loving. She loves her father, though she barely knows him; and, during his slow descent into madness, she often says she "cannot bear" to see him this way. She also has an enduring friendship with Dr. Alfred Prunesquallor, the Gormenghast physician. What Fuchsia seems to want most is someone to love her. Actress Neve McIntosh
said of the character, "She locks herself in her attic where she lives in her imagination. All she wants is a knight
in shining armor to come up to the castle tower and carry her off.http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/gormenghast/characters/fuchsia.html" Fuchsia's favorite drink is elderberry wine http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A741971.
takes advantage of Fuchsia's romantic soul by convincing the lonely young woman that he is an adventurer. Fuchsia herself is initially disgusted by Steerpike's grubby appearance, but she is then awed when he tells her of an enigmatic "pavement in the sky." He uses her to quickly find himself work as Dr. Prunesquallor's manservant and dispensary clerk.
Over the course of the novels, Fuchsia falls in love with Steerpike. She is attracted by his swashbuckling persona and by the fact that he is different from anyone else she has ever met. It is feasible that Fuchsia also loves what Steerpike represents: the possibility for change. Since Steerpike himself started out as a lowly kitchen boy and advanced upwards through the society of Gormenghast, perhaps it is also possible for Fuchsia to change her own destiny. Unbeknownst to Fuchsia, Steerpike is responsible for the death of her father, an event that saddens the young woman deeply and adds to her feeling of being utterly alone.
Ultimately, the pair's love affair is doomed to fail. Fuchsia finally realizes that Steerpike is "evil" and untrustworthy, and is frightened by his lust for power. While the television series portrays Steerpike as begging Fuchsia for shelter even after he has been revealed as a criminal (a request for assistance that she rejects), there is no corresponding scene in the novel. Fuchsia's death, in chapter 75, is precipitated by "mounting melancholia" brought on by the revelation that she had loved a murderer. This eventually leads her to a situation in which she finds herself standing perilously on a windowsill above the waters that had flooded the Castle. Disturbed by someone knocking at the door, she slips and, knocked unconscious by her head striking the windowsill, drowns. While nothing indicates Steerpike's involvement as an immediate cause of her death (he indirectly contributed by disturbing her always fragile mental equilibrium), Titus, upon hearing of her death, immediately blames Steerpike for it (chapter 76) and swears to kill him.
Fuchsia was buried on Gormenghast Mountain, at a site overlooking the Castle chosen by her mother, in a ceremony at which neither her brother the Earl, recovering as he was from the severe fever that followed his killing of Steerpike, nor Dr. Prunesquallor, who was caring for the Earl, could attend. It was immediately after a visit to her grave that Titus decided to abandon his hereditary responsibilities and go out into the world.
In Titus Alone, Fuchsia is one of the characters from the earlier novels mocked by Cheeta in the nightmarish scene that she puts on in the Black House (chapter 105).
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
: The daughter of Sepulchrave
Sepulchrave
Sepulchrave, Lord Groan is a character in Mervyn Peake's novels Titus Groan .- Character :Sepulchrave is the 76th Earl of Groan and Lord of Gormenghast, the gigantic, isolate citadel-state which forms the setting/otherworld for the Titus Groan novels of Mervyn Peake.He is father to Titus Groan and...
, 76th Earl of Groan, in Mervyn Peake
Mervyn Peake
Mervyn Laurence Peake was an English writer, artist, poet and illustrator. He is best known for what are usually referred to as the Gormenghast books. They are sometimes compared to the work of his older contemporary J. R. R...
's novels Titus Groan
Titus Groan (novel)
Titus Groan is a novel by Mervyn Peake. It is the first novel in the Gormenghast series.-Plot introduction:The book is set in the huge castle of Gormenghast, a vast landscape of crumbling towers and ivy-filled quadrangles that has for centuries been the hereditary residence of the Groan family and...
(1946) and Gormenghast
Gormenghast (novel)
Gormenghast, by Mervyn Peake, is the second novel in his Gormenghast series. It is the story of Titus Groan, 77th Earl of Groan and Lord of Gormenghast Castle, from age 7 to 17. As the story opens, Titus dreads the pre-ordained life of ritual that stretches before him...
(1950). In the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
film adaptation (2000), Fuchsia is portrayed by Scottish
Scottish people
The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...
actress Neve McIntosh
Neve McIntosh
-Early life:Born in Paisley, Neve McIntosh grew up in Edinburgh, where she attended Boroughmuir High School. She moved to Glasgow to attend the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, after which she was in repertory companies at Perth and at The Little Theatre on the Isle of Mull.-Theatre:She...
.
Fuchsia is also the subject of The Cure
The Cure
The Cure are an English rock band formed in Crawley, West Sussex in 1976. The band has experienced several line-up changes, with frontman, vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter Robert Smith being the only constant member...
song, The Drowning Man, which is about her death and mentions her by name.
Early life and family
Fuchsia is the first child of the Earl of Groan and his Countess; but the title Earl of Groan and the family seat Gormenghast CastleGormenghast (castle)
Gormenghast is a fictional castle of titanic proportions that features prominently in a series of fantasy works penned by Mervyn Peake. It is the setting for the first two books in the Gormenghast series, Titus Groan and Gormenghast...
are entail
Fee tail
At common law, fee tail or entail is an estate of inheritance in real property which cannot be sold, devised by will, or otherwise alienated by the owner, but which passes by operation of law to the owner's heirs upon his death...
ed, only sons can inherit. Consequently, Fuchsia has been largely ignored by both parents; and she spends most of her time with Nanny Slagg. While Fuchsia cares for Nanny Slagg deeply, she also delights in tormenting the old woman with childish antics and pranks. When Fuchsia is about fifteen, an heir-apparent is finally born. Like many firstborns, Fuchsia is angry that her parents are having another baby and determines to hate her brother or sister. After his naming ceremony, Fuchsia expresses delight that Titus was dropped on his head. Over time, however, the two grow very close. When Titus is twelve, he is imprisoned by his mother and his schoolmaster for repeated questioning and disobedience; and Fuchsia is the only one to visit or talk to him.
Appearance and personality
The novel describes Fuchsia as "...a girl of about fifteen with long, rather wild black hair. She was gauche in movement and in a sense ugly of face, but with how small a twist might she not suddenly have become beautiful. Her sullen mouth was full and rich -- her eyes smoldered."Fuchsia is a dreamer and a romantic
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
, who escapes the dull pace of life in Gormenghast by reading fantasy tales. She frequently disappears into her secret attic rooms to fantasize and sulk. She scrawls on walls with charcoal and makes such wild claims as, "When I am Queen, I am going to burn down the castle
Arson
Arson is the crime of intentionally or maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires...
!", which upsets the aged Nanny Slagg. Lady Fuchsia Groan will never become Queen; but her fantasies of romance and adventure seem to keep her forever young. She responds to everything with childlike enthusiasm; and, beneath her callous and bratty exterior, she is sweet and loving. She loves her father, though she barely knows him; and, during his slow descent into madness, she often says she "cannot bear" to see him this way. She also has an enduring friendship with Dr. Alfred Prunesquallor, the Gormenghast physician. What Fuchsia seems to want most is someone to love her. Actress Neve McIntosh
Neve McIntosh
-Early life:Born in Paisley, Neve McIntosh grew up in Edinburgh, where she attended Boroughmuir High School. She moved to Glasgow to attend the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, after which she was in repertory companies at Perth and at The Little Theatre on the Isle of Mull.-Theatre:She...
said of the character, "She locks herself in her attic where she lives in her imagination. All she wants is a knight
Knight-errant
A knight-errant is a figure of medieval chivalric romance literature. "Errant," meaning wandering or roving, indicates how the knight-errant would typically wander the land in search of adventures to prove himself as a knight, such as in a pas d'armes.The first known appearance of the term...
in shining armor to come up to the castle tower and carry her off.http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/gormenghast/characters/fuchsia.html" Fuchsia's favorite drink is elderberry wine http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A741971.
Fuchsia and Steerpike
SteerpikeSteerpike
Steerpike is a character in Mervyn Peake's novels Titus Groan and Gormenghast.In 2000 Irish actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers portrayed Steerpike in the BBC miniseries Gormenghast.-Character:...
takes advantage of Fuchsia's romantic soul by convincing the lonely young woman that he is an adventurer. Fuchsia herself is initially disgusted by Steerpike's grubby appearance, but she is then awed when he tells her of an enigmatic "pavement in the sky." He uses her to quickly find himself work as Dr. Prunesquallor's manservant and dispensary clerk.
Over the course of the novels, Fuchsia falls in love with Steerpike. She is attracted by his swashbuckling persona and by the fact that he is different from anyone else she has ever met. It is feasible that Fuchsia also loves what Steerpike represents: the possibility for change. Since Steerpike himself started out as a lowly kitchen boy and advanced upwards through the society of Gormenghast, perhaps it is also possible for Fuchsia to change her own destiny. Unbeknownst to Fuchsia, Steerpike is responsible for the death of her father, an event that saddens the young woman deeply and adds to her feeling of being utterly alone.
Ultimately, the pair's love affair is doomed to fail. Fuchsia finally realizes that Steerpike is "evil" and untrustworthy, and is frightened by his lust for power. While the television series portrays Steerpike as begging Fuchsia for shelter even after he has been revealed as a criminal (a request for assistance that she rejects), there is no corresponding scene in the novel. Fuchsia's death, in chapter 75, is precipitated by "mounting melancholia" brought on by the revelation that she had loved a murderer. This eventually leads her to a situation in which she finds herself standing perilously on a windowsill above the waters that had flooded the Castle. Disturbed by someone knocking at the door, she slips and, knocked unconscious by her head striking the windowsill, drowns. While nothing indicates Steerpike's involvement as an immediate cause of her death (he indirectly contributed by disturbing her always fragile mental equilibrium), Titus, upon hearing of her death, immediately blames Steerpike for it (chapter 76) and swears to kill him.
Fuchsia was buried on Gormenghast Mountain, at a site overlooking the Castle chosen by her mother, in a ceremony at which neither her brother the Earl, recovering as he was from the severe fever that followed his killing of Steerpike, nor Dr. Prunesquallor, who was caring for the Earl, could attend. It was immediately after a visit to her grave that Titus decided to abandon his hereditary responsibilities and go out into the world.
In Titus Alone, Fuchsia is one of the characters from the earlier novels mocked by Cheeta in the nightmarish scene that she puts on in the Black House (chapter 105).